A Whisper On The Wind
by CharcoalFaith
Summary: When the Doctor finds a girl who can remember nothing but her name, how could he not invite her aboard the TARDIS? But the girl has deadly secrets she doesn't even know she's keeping. Set between the Doctor meeting Donna and the start of season three.


**Okay, this is the first chapter, set after the runaway bride when the Doctor first meets Donna but before he meets Martha, Martha will be making an appearance at some point as she is my favourite companion and I might include Donna too in later chapters but I'm not too fond of her. Anyway, here goes, please review as I'm more than a little nervous about writing my own stories.  
>I don't own Doctor Who or any of the related characters much to my disappointment ;D<strong>

She hid herself away amongst the rotting cardboard and ripped bin bags. Her heart beat high in her chest, one-two one-two one-two. Her fear and confusion swirled around in her brain making it difficult to think, not that she had much to think about.

There isn't much going on in one's head when all they remember is their name. Oh she remembered mundane things, like how to read and write, how the internet worked, even where she was, but nothing was familiar, like she was looking through someone else's memories. She could remember how to read, but couldn't remember being taught.

The small girl shook her head, 'Just concentrate on the name' she told herself. Lola, her name was Lola. She kept repeating it in her head like some kind of charm, like it could keep her safe from the dangers that surrounded her. She looked herself over, and with a start realised that she had no idea what she looked like.

She was wearing knee high black leather boots over black tights that stretched up to a pair of black denim shorts. 'Lots of black' she thought to herself and then was thankful as she realised how easily she blended into the dark alley. She wore a plain black t-shirt with black fingerless gloves that reached her elbows. Around her neck hung a chain with a beautiful, gold locket for a pendant, but Lola barely noticed that. She ran a hand through her hair to discover that it reached past her shoulders in soft blonde ringlets, it was half tied up to keep it out of her face.

Suddenly random noises could be heard from the far end of the alley, if she strained her ears enough she could make out talking.

"You there! Check down that one. You two, follow that road there. The rest of you, stay with me. We must find her! She has what we require and if she reaches her precious team she'll be unattainable. Go!" Lola shrank further into the shadows, they were talking about her. She didn't know how she knew that, but she was certain of it. She was also certain that they would find her. Her hiding place wasn't nearly good enough, and she could hear one of the people moving down the Alley, kicking aside rubbish as it went.

It began to call out to her in a deep voice that was probably supposed to sound inviting. It didn't.

"Come out, we aren't going to hurt you, we have great respect for a warrior of your calibre, and we only want that transmat device. You know that's all we require, so there's nothing to be scared of, just hand it over." Lola began to panic. Transmat device? She didn't even know what that was. As quietly as she could, she began to pat herself down. Nothing, she had nothing but her clothes, no change in her pockets or anything.

"Ahhh, there you are, finally. Now hand over the transmat device and you can go on your way. We have no desire to hurt such a great warrior." The speaker was a short ugly creature in black armour, and what was it on about? Great Warrior? What? Lola shook her head slightly to clear it before opening her mouth to speak.

She never got the chance, probably a good thing considering she had no idea what she was going to say. The ugly potato like creature, Sontaran her head said, but anyway, the ugly potato creature suddenly went cross eyed and fell forward, on to its face. Being so short it missed her toes by a few centimetres and Lola spared a few moments to look at it in a confused manner before looking up at her saviour, if it was a saviour at all.

From her position on the floor, the ugly potato man had been towering over her, which was the only reason she hadn't seen her 'saviour' coming. The man that now stood before her was very tall and very thin. He was wearing a blue suit under a large brown trench coat. Lola's eyes travelled up from his red converse trainers past his blue suit trousers, past his suit jacket, up to his tie. From there she looked him in the face. He had intense brown eyes that were sparkling with curiosity, a pencil thin nose and amazing shock of brown spiky hair. In one hand he was randomly swinging a wooden mallet and the other was offered towards her in a gesture that quite plainly said 'get up'.

Lola eyed the offered hand suspiciously and decided to ignore it, instead she piped up,

"Thanks I guess, who are you?" The tall guy looked a little offended that she had rejected his offer of help but answered her all the same.

"I'm the Doctor." The way he said it suggested that everyone should know who he was, Lola raised an eyebrow.

"Doctor Who?" she asked. The 'Doctor' smiled smugly at this,

"Just the Doctor. What about you?" Lola started slightly, she didn't really know.

"Err, my name is Lola." It was the Doctors turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Lola who?" Lola smiled weakly in response.

"Just Lola. So far as I know anyway."

"So far as you know? What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, his entire face screwed up in confusion. Lola let out a ringing peal of laughter at his expression before her face turned sombre again.

"I don't remember much about myself, only my name. I don't really remember how I got here." She gestured around at the alley. "I only vaguely remember running and hiding, but before that nothing." The Doctors face remained screwed up, it really looked ridiculous.

"But, but, it was after you." He indicated towards the Sontaran. "Why?" Lola could feel herself getting annoyed, apparently she was someone with a very short temper.

"How the hell should I know? All I know is that some crazy potato creature chased me down an alley and then got knocked out by a mad man in a suit that appears to have screwed his face up so much it's stuck that way!" The Doctor looked a little shocked at this outburst and his entire face rearranged itself into a less scrunched up manner. Lola felt her anger drain away and vaguely wondered to herself if it was his expression that she had a problem with before adding.

"Oh, and it said something about a transmat device." The Doctor raised an eyebrow,

"Why would it ask a human for a transmat device? Why would it ask anything for a transmat device? Sontarans have had teleports for years, nothing new about that technology. This transmat device they're after must be different in some way, possibly a form of vortex manipulator, but then why not just steal it off a time agent? Hmmm, I wonder why they thought you had it."

The Doctor finally took the time to properly look at the girl. She was beautiful, no doubt about that, with fine features that had an edge to them, if he had to he would guess her age to be about nineteen. She didn't appear to be armed, unless she was hiding a gun somewhere within the shorts. Highly unlikely considering that they were rather tight.

Actually, judging by her clothing she belonged to this time era which was good. If he had to take a guess he would have said they'd come from the 22nd century but there wasn't much difference. She was wearing all black which confused him for a moment, taking in the black clothes, complete lack of trust and the way she held herself, like a leopard ready to pounce he would have guessed she was part of the military.

But then, whoever heard of a beautiful, petit, blonde girl in the military? He doubted her arms could support one of earths ridiculous gunpowder weapons, and her apparent lack of memory was a little disturbing. He couldn't let people wonder around with no memory, it wasn't fair to them.

"Right, here's what's going to happen, I can't leave you here to get killed by Sontarans, so you could come with me, your choice but I know which I'd choose. Anyway, all we'll do is run a few scans, see if we can't find you a memory, kit you out with a bio-damper, I've got everything I need in my TARDIS, that's..."

"Time and relative dimensions in space." She quoted perfectly. The Doctor was about to continue before he realised what she'd said.

"Ye...Wait, what?" Lola looked up at him confused.  
>"How could you possibly know that?" His eyes raked over her, was he being tricked? Was this whole thing a trap?<p>

"I, I don't know, it just sort of came out." But the doctor wasn't paying any attention to her anymore he was off on his own thought path, muttering to himself.

"Who'd want to spy on me, what would that even gain? Maybe it was the Sontarans, they could've orchestrated the whole thing, but she's not a clone, and how would they even know I was going to turn up here? She seems human, oh, but if she's human I can scan her telepathically. Wait. Where did she go?" The girl in question had taken it upon herself to rise to her feet and stalk away down the alley.

"Where are you going?" He asked, his face once again screwed up.

"Away." Was the only answer he received.

"But, Why?" He whined, unsure if this was some type of bluff.

"Why? Let me think... Oh yes, maybe because I'm being hunted down by potato creatures, I have absolutely no memory besides my name, I've been 'rescued' by some wacko with a mallet, and now, just to top off what I can assure you has been a delightful evening, I'm being accused of spying on said wacko. You have a very high opinion of yourself by the way, I have absolutely no interest in your life or anything in it. Thanks for knocking that thing out, now kindly go away." Lola looked positively livid by this point.

"But, where will you go?" Lola seemed to deflate at the question, all the anger draining away from her.

"I don't know, I'm scared and tired, I don't understand any of this, my head is so empty, and it hurts. I feel like I'm reaching for memories I know should be there, but I've somehow misplaced them. Doctor, your name hurts my head." She had sunk to the floor by this point, all the fight gone out of her.

The doctor was astounded at how quickly her mood had changed, he chose to disregard the final comment and instead strode towards her, he scooped her up in his arms and started off in the direction of the TARDIS. He had expected some kind of protest from the small girl but she remained silent and simply buried her head into the Doctors shirt. He could barely feel the weight of her in his arms, she was so light and before long he could feel hot tears soaking into his shirt,

"Shhhhhhh." He murmured to her as he shifted her weight in order to open the TARDIS. It felt like the entire TARDIS brightened when he carried her in, similar to the way it reacted to Rose after she absorbed the time vortex, but somehow this felt deeper, a primal sense of joy. He quickly carried her across the control room and allowed the TARDIS to guide him to a suitable bedroom.

The bedroom the TARDIS chose was more intricate than the ones it usually supplied to visitors. It was full of toffee coloured wood and soft honey light illuminated rich burgundy blankets and drapes.

The Doctor had to pause for a moment in the doorway in an attempt to get his bearings and locate the bed, this was a room he had never seen before and he couldn't help the feeling that the TARDIS had created it especially for the girl.

The bed was finally found to be on the second level of the bedroom, up a small spiral staircase and on a sort of balcony overlooking the room, the design of the room reminded him vaguely of the grand buildings of Gallifrey and a stab of nostalgia hit him.

After clambering up the spindly staircase he laid her down on the bed where she curled into the foetal position and tucked her head beneath her arms. The Doctor sat beside her and smoothed down her hair as sobs wracked her body, eventually the heart wrenching cries faded away and her breathing turned calm.

The Doctor quietly left her to sleep and wandered back to the control room.

"What do you think old girl? Am I being a fool? Is she some kind of spy? The other Time Lords would call me a fool, especially the Master. But she doesn't seem dishonest, just scared, and those were real tears. Ah, do me a favour and lock her doors will you, we'll run a few scans in the morning, see what's what but I don't want her running around, got it?" The TARDIS hummed in agreement. The Doctor took one last glance around the control room, shook his head and went off in search of his own bedroom, chasing Sontarans was tiring work.

He awoke to the TARDIS nudging his mind gently, through her he quickly felt movements in Lola's room, murmuring his thanks to the TARDIS he dressed as fast as he could and raced through the corridors until he came across the door to her room.

The TARDIS unlocked the door and the Doctor stuck his head around it, Lola was sat on one of the small sofas on the bottom level, she was curled up like a cat with her head on the arm.

"Hey, you hungry?" He called to her, her head snapped up and for a moment there was nothing in her eyes, no anger, pain, happiness or humour, just endless emptiness that made the Doctor shiver. Then they were back to their normal deep blue and she smiled sadly at him,

"A little, is there a kitchen here, I'm afraid I was a little preoccupied when you brought me here." The Doctor grinned at her.

"There is a kitchen, very well stocked as well, but you'll have to cook for yourself unfortunately as anything I make always ends up inedible." This earned him a smile from Lola who clambered to her feet in an adorable clumsy fashion that was definitely clichéd.

He led the way to the kitchen that the TARDIS had conveniently placed in the next corridor and watched as she made pancakes, she searched through the vast cupboards, eventually emerging with a bottle of lemon juice and a bag of sugar. She sat down at the small table and began to wolf the food down like she hadn't eaten in a month, for all she knew, she hadn't.

"So then, what now? I mean you've been great and everything, with the bed for the night and the food and the saving from the potato creature, but what is expected of me now, because I don't know anything, at all." She asked after polishing off her third pancake.

"Well, I'm not going to lie to you, the Time And Relative Dimensions In Space thing last night is a little worrying. I was wondering if you'd let me do a psychic neural capacity scan, just to see if we can find any more memories stored in your head, it could also tell us a little about your lost memories, how they disappeared for example." He explained, pulling out his 'clever' glasses and putting them on.

"And after that?"

"Well that depends upon the results but as I mentioned last night, a biodamper should sort out your Sontaran problem, they're the potato creatures by the way. And, if we can locate a few memories it could be useful in finding the rest." And also seeing if you're lying, he added in his head.

"Right then are you up for it?" His questioned was answered by a hesitant nod and he quickly half dragged the girl by the hand into the control room. He dragged away a piece of floor and quickly jumped into the hole.

"Just a minute, got to find the right scanner, I'm sure I filed it away under P, or was it S? It's hard to keep track sometimes." He shouted up to her, but Lola wasn't paying much attention, she was too busy staring in confusion around the control rooms. It was understandable really, even without the control panel and time rotor the coral supports and industrial supports were odd.

"What is this place?" She asked, confusion evident in her tone.

"Well, it's a... space ship, of sorts. Well not quite, but almost, well not really, It's actually a time machine, I say machine, more of a sentient creature, but I use it to travel to places and times in history I want to visit, actually that's not quite true, I never seem to end up going where I intended, her fault in my opinion, oh the ships a her by the way." The Doctor called up from beneath the floor, upon realising that this probably wasn't very informative he popped his head up to speak to her.

"It's basically just a time machine, let's leave it at that shall we?"

"Okay, but the coral?"

"Got it!" He jumped up suddenly holding a very odd piece of equipment that looked like a paint roller.

"Here we go then." He called as he approached Lola,

"Now, it's okay, it won't hurt, I doubt you'll even notice anything happening, you won't have your life flash before your eyes or anything like that." He was grinning in a wide childish manner now as he seated her in the pilot chair and began waving the strange machine around her head.

"There now, let's have a look what we found shall we?" He dragged the screen around to show Lola a large stream of numbers and graphs that meant absolutely nothing to her.

"Oh wow, no memories at all prior to 13 hours and 43 minutes ago, nothing not even a whisper, how did you manage that? Oh now, now now now, that, is an insanely large amount of psychic energy you've got stored up there, how did you get all that? I mean the human brain can contain pretty much as much psychic energy as it likes unlike a Time Lord, we can only store so much, but the bit I don't get is how you got it in the first place. I mean Humans generate their own psychic energy during day to day life, no idea why, they don't use it for anything, but even someone as old as a hundred wouldn't have stored a tenth of what's in your brain, so how did you get it?" He had once again pulled out his glasses and was staring quite intently at her.

Well she wasn't lying, there were certainly no memories in her head, he had no idea where the time and relative dimensions in space thing had come from, but she damn sure wasn't a Sontaran spy.

"So, no memories at all? You can't restore them in some way?" Lola asked in a slightly panicked manner.

"Not without knowing what took them, and I have no idea what technology could possibly remove memories with that much precision, not leave any clues and still allow the brain to create new memories. It's certainly not something I've come across before."

"But who are you? Well I know who you are, but what are you? What was that Time Lord thing you mentioned, is that what you are? You speak like you're not human, and you've got a time machine and for God knows what reason, this makes sense in my head." Lola was looking him straight in the eye and while her tone was scared, her eyes betrayed nothing, the dark blue pools too heavily guarded.

"I am a Time Lord, they're an old race, we come from a planet called Gallifrey, but it's gone now, all the Time Lords are dead and Gallifrey burnt. I'm the only one left now. I'm certainly not human, no matter how much I may look it, I've got two hearts and we're different on a cellular level as well, and don't even get me started on regeneration." He had turned back to the screen as he said this, unwilling to see the pity in her eyes.

"I'm, I'm sorry." She murmured. But the Doctor had already dashed away, he picked up his coat and began delving his arms into the pockets. Lola looked on fascinated as his arms seemed to go far deeper than the pockets.

"I know it's around here somewhere, I only had it a few days ago and I'm sure Donna gave it me back. AHA! One bio-damper. I may not be able to get your memories back but I can stop the Sontarans from finding you." He passed her a small gold ring which she quickly slipped onto her middle finger.

"What does it do?"

"Oh just emits a standard biometric ionising field, should prevent the Sontarans and indeed any other creature after you from tracking you down."

"Okay... Is that the exit then?" She was pointing at the police box doors that would lead her out into London. The Doctor was shocked for a moment by her question before realising there really was no reason for her to stay.

"I mean thanks and everything, but I don't want to keep you any longer, after all, why would anyone with a time machine want to stay in 21st century London?" She was looking at him with deep blue eyes that seemed so lost. He found he didn't want her to go, the brief time she had spent on the TARDIS was like having a companion again.

"Well yes, we're about half a block from where I found you." He couldn't quite figure out how to ask her to stay, this bit always seemed so awkward.

"Well, thanks again, thank-you so much for everything, with the saving and the bio-damper and everything, thanks." She smiled nervously and headed for the door. Donnas words echoed in the Doctors head.

"_Just promise me one thing. Find someone."  
>"I don't need anyone."<br>"Yes you do. Because sometimes I think you need someone to stop you."_

"You could come with me. See the stars. I mean if you want, it doesn't matter if you don't, it's not a big deal or anything, I just thought you might enjoy it." He was rambling again, why did he always end up rambling. Lola had stopped a few feet away from the door and she slowly turned around.

"Come with you, as in travel with you? In time and space?"

"Well yes, if you want to that is."

"I'd love to, I mean it's not like there's anything for me here, well nothing I remember at any rate." She was coming! A smile spread across the Doctors face, a smile of such child like glee that Lola had to smile too.

"Excellent! Where do you want to go, past? Future? New planet? New Galaxy? We could visit Castrovalva, haven't been there for years, or the Eye of Orion, that's beautiful, what about a space station? I know one just of the Lebain Nebula that has this little stall that sells the most amazing candyfloss. Well, I say candyfloss, it's the alien equivalent but it still tastes great!"

"Candyfloss sounds good, I don't remember if I like it or not, but it could be fun to find out." Lola quickly interrupted before he could go of another meaningless ramble.

"Well then, Dantase space station it is then." He said with a grin. He reached for a leaver on the console and shouted,

"Allons-y!" 

**Right then, that's the first Chapter finally finished, what do you think? Is it worth carrying on? If anyone notices any mistakes please tell me and I'll gladly fix them. Please do review!**


End file.
